Talking to Austin...yet again.

bill berry, jr.:

Mr., Mr., Mr.

What’s up Austin Morgan?  Let’s quickly get real. 

You continue to be an aaduna contributing editor and have had your work published in the journal before serving as an editor.  You read at the May 2017 aaduna fundraiser in Auburn, New York that gave you your first trip to upstate NY and got you away from your hometown region.  So, what have you been up to since May 2017, and what are your creative initiatives planned for 2018? 

Austin C. Morgan:   

Yes, I had a very nice time in Auburn.  It was a much-needed vacation, of course with the exceptionally lovely Harlem Renaissance-themed fundraiser at the Carriage House Theater, as well as the wonderful tour of the lakes and surrounding countryside.

Since May, I have merely been shopping my poem, Morcant’s Dream, around for publication with various reviews.   The length of the piece has made it rather difficult to locate an appropriate (potential) home, given the common page limitation falling well beneath that of Morcant’s.  

Regarding endeavors for 2018, I do have an idea in mind which I have been toying with.  I have recently found myself stricken with a very strange, very enchanting sense of inspiration and I have certainly planned extensively the outcome of this idea of mine.  It is to be larger than Morcant’s Dream and really runs rather contrary in its approach as opposed to that of Morcant’s.  As of this moment, it exists merely as a pile of scribbled notes, but I have come to feel quite positively regarding this conception.

bb:

And knowing you, conception is a few steps away from actual manifestation.  Now, as a published writer, contributing editor, and presenter/reader of your work before an audience, what would you tell aspiring writers to do to get their work before the public, and are there any mis-steps that you made that you wish you could erase and then just start over?  If so, what are those mis-steps? And can you give us a hint as to what lies in those scribbled notes?” I am sure you know about “curiosity” and the death of the cat who falls prey to it natural sense of seeking.  Anyway…we seek.

ACM:

Although it may seem obvious and slightly ham-fisted of me, the advice that I would give to these inspiring writers who wish to present their work before the public is to do just that.  I’ve met so many gifted creative individuals who produce such phenomenal work and yet they do not present it, whether it be out of some sense of fear or indifference.  You must present your work.  If I recall correctly, I was about fifteen when I gave my first public reading.  It was at a small coffee shop that my father frequented and he just so happened to have brought me along that night.  I stood in front of the microphone and I read a small piece I had written earlier that day.  I was terrified.  I felt strange and unappealing, that my work had no merit and that I was perhaps being silently judged.  Now, obviously, I wasn’t being judged, silently or otherwise, but out of sheer nervousness, I had convinced myself that I was.  This became a pattern during the first few times, but I eventually shrugged it off.  One must not give into the forces of this self-deprecating paranoia, otherwise known as “stage fright.”  I believe that this is the very thing that stops much of our great art from being experienced.  These burgeoning writers must simply do it and remain active in their doing so.  If there is some sort of weekly or monthly spoken word night in your area, frequent it.  That would be my two-cents on the matter.

As for any missteps, I am certain that I have made many, but I cannot recall them from the top of my head (blame it on the late hour, as it is well past midnight as I write this).

What I can tell you regarding the content of my notes is that they are full of moonlight and rose petals.  It is to be a very romantic piece.  The inspiration I’ve received has come from a rather unconventional angle, therefore the piece itself will likely be incredibly unconventional in its structure and narrative.  There is a very intriguing term, saudade, with which I had briefly flirted in Morcant’s Dream.  The term is Portuguese meaning a sort of melancholia or nostalgia.  I plan for this piece to be the embodiment of saudade.  It is nocturnal effort, whereas many nights and days passed in Morcant’s Dream, this is to be a piece strictly for the nighttime.  This, I suppose, is my preview.          

bb:

Well you surely know how to whet one’s literary appetite, and I like the thematic nuance to focus the work around “saudade.” In fact, having met you, I suspect that your persona reflects that term. And the concept of “film noir” also comes to mind when I extrapolate certain aspects of your personality and integrate those characteristics into some of your work…style, mood, tone, point of view, romanticism.  It is as if that you and your work exist and are cast in “black ‘n’ white” coloring versus the rampant hues of a rainbow.  Am I making any sense to you or am I totally off –base?  

ACM:

No, no, you certainly raise a valid point with this.  I’ve always been particularly fond of In the Wee Small Hours, due in part to the album’s cover image…it’s a very late and ghostly street scene and Sinatra is leaning against a lamppost and he’s smoking a cigarette with a look of utter exhaustion on his face.  I’ve always sympathized with this scene and I suppose that it defines my own atmosphere very well.  Tom Waits used to be the same way, although I tend to lack that general sense of roughness he carries.  JJ Gittes carried some of that “noir” hopeless romance, as well.  I suppose that wherever there is a lone lamppost and the hour is late, I’ll be there.  

bb:

I am familiar with Sinatra’s vast portfolio of music, the album cover you reference and the riveting songs that he sung for that vinyl effort.  And putting everything in perspective, let’s get real. You embody a new aesthetic. A style and ambiance that is slowly making its unique, retro presence known to the larger society.  (I also know the ‘old heads’ don’t get it. Nevertheless…) I am sure you have heard of the term, “influencer.” Accept the badge. Wear it. I have pinned the label on you! So, as our chat is on the cusp of closure, I ask this question.  If you could exist at any time and place in human history where would you be and why?  Be well Mr. Morgan, and thanks for having the last word! 

ACM:

Southern or Central California circa 1974.  It’s strange…I hold a certain affinity for the era.  The idea of wooden-panel walls and shag carpet often makes me feel a sort of nostalgia.  For better or worse, perhaps I was once there and in love.  It’s an amusing thought.

Thank you for having me, once more, for conversation.  

***

Austin C. Morgan (photo provided)

Austin C. Morgan has been offered admission to Arizona State University where he will major in Philosophy and minor in Art History. He plans to make his move westward in the fall leaving his home-base currently located in Jasper, southern Indiana. Mr. Morgan will continue to serve as an aaduna contributing editor and may bring his skills and literary interests to reviewing poetry as well as fiction.

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